To date, the Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, Jilin province, has more than 1,500 enterprises with foreign trade rights (including foreign-funded enterprises) and 520 enterprises with good performance in import and export trade. It has become a minority autonomous prefecture with the largest amount of enterprises with import and export operations.

The trade partners of the autonomous prefecture are spread over more than 120 countries and regions, with the import and export products covering more than 160 types in nearly 15 categories.

According to relevant departments, in recent years, Yanbian has been firmly seizing the historic development opportunity of the Changchun-Jilin-Tumen Planning Outline and striving to develop a foreign trade economy following the thought of "stabilizing growth, adjusting structure and promoting balance." The accumulated amount of export and import trade, during the 2010-2013 period, reached $8.14 billion with an annual rate of growth up to 18.6 percent.

Yanbian's foreign trade features various characteristics. Private enterprises play a dominant role, and their promotion function in foreign trade is enhancing. The foreign trade area of Yanbian is expanding with trade partners spreading all over the world. A diversified mode of trade is gradually taking shape with frontier trade dominating nearly half of the market. The structure of imports and exports is constantly optimized and the leading industry of foreign trade has basically taken shape. Frontier trade is developing steadily, and its promoting role in trade with Russia is obvious. Hunchun county of Yanbian plays a significant role in acting as a "window".

Edited by Michael Thai